It's not often I'm able to review a product that's aimed squarely at my heartstrings, but when my one and a half year-old son audibly gasped as a small red Audi emerged from a curiously sized box left at my doorstep, I knew all objectivity was lost.

Equipped with quiet 5-spoke rotor wheels, a flat-bottomed steering wheel, and a faithful reproduction of Audi's distinctively trapezoidal grille, it would have been easy to dismiss the toy's lack of suspension compliance, torsional rigidity, and basic creature comforts like wind protection and locomotive capabilities beyond Fred Flintstone-era technology. But therein lay the elegance of the design, a return to elemental driving dynamics that was sure to hush critics dubious of newfangled features like dual-clutch transmissions, adaptive cruise control, and adult-sized seats.

My kid may not be sophisticated enough to comment on his car's steering feel or its transient response as it corners over sidewalk cracks, but the gearhead-in-the-making just may have become unwittingly imprinted with an early episode of brand awareness. Props to the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer for proving it's never too early to gain a fan. When my boy asks for the latest, greatest Audi on his sixteenth birthday, I'll know exactly who to blame.